I’ve recently started reading some of the stuff in Slate Magazine. They have some decent pieces in there from time to time. Sports journalism, however, is not their strong suit. They are prone to the same hysterical and reflexive Yankee bashing that plagues ESPN, only in a more devious sort of way. Because they fashion themselves as an online magazine for the “with-it” crowd, they try to write more high-brow analysis, avoiding sports jargon and the sports-nut minutiae that one can find on a dedicated sports site.
I read a piece by a pompous dipshit named Charles P. Pierce (that name oozes preppy rapist) who, in his day job, writes for the Boston Globe. It’s a complete hack job. This guy a) knows nothing of baseball, b) has probably never been outside of Boston’s city limits and c) has been drinking the batch of Kool Aid that Theo Epstein mixed and FedEx’ed to seemingly every journalist, pundit and media employee in the country.
The lead paragraph should dispel any notion that this guy knows baseball. I mean, if disparaging a pinch-hitter who is batting .284 is valid then what do I know, right?
He goes on to disparage ARod by somehow trying to convince readers that a “.317-23-72 first half is almost enough to make you forget his embarrassing bitch-slap meltdown against the Red Sox in last year's ALCS. (Almost).” I’m so tired of hearing about that Game 6 incident. ARod was playing to win, nothing more, nothing less. If the umps don’t reverse that call then ARod’s seen as a huge hero who “does the little things” like they used to back in the old days – sliding with your spikes up, dusting hitters, stealing signs, etc. Bobby Thompson won his Giants the 1951 pennant by slamming a walk-off homer. He stole the sign and won the game yet he’s romanticized. I could go on about this forever…
Anyway, to round out this hack-job article, I’ll give you another excerpt:
“That puts general manager Brian Cashman in a difficult place. The AL East likely is going to be won in the front office. The Red Sox, Orioles, and Yankees all have glaring needs, and the Yankees have far fewer options than the other two, particularly the Red Sox, who have a well-stocked farm system and a general manager who is a) nervy, b) brilliant, and c) not employed by an oligarch. That's an immeasurable advantage, particularly when the oligarch in question is writing checks to the likes of Kevin Brown for the foreseeable future.”
Can we stop sucking Theo’s man-part for a second here? He’s done a nice job, yes, and I’ll be the first to give him credit for being a better GM than Brian Cashman (that’s not too hard an accomplishment but Theo can consider it a compliment). But give me a break already! John Henry and the New York Times Company aren’t oligarchs? If anything, that ownership group is a crooked oligarch (I’ll explain Henry’s crookedness in another posting or, if you’re dying to know, email me) and a major media conglomerate (can you say conflict of interest, anyone?) which has to be seen as just as bad as Boss Steinbrenner. Of course, this says nothing of the error at the end of that sentence. Kevin Brown is a free agent after this year so no one affiliated with the Yankees will be paying him anything “for the foreseeable future.” Wrong again, Chazz. Now go get your f*cking shine box.
Slate Article – read and laugh (or cry, if you actually care about integrity and truth in reporting).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think that the main problem that we are running into is the fact that the majority of the "national" sports channels and articles are full of Boston lovers and haters of the Yankees. The whole concept of non-bias journalism gets thrown out the door on these mainstream stations. I thought that the main national media (which I consider ESPN to be) was supposed to be completely non-bias. Or shall we say Fair and Balanced. I just read an article on ESPN about Schilling and the author was basically sucking the weiner of the Red Coxs. Save your bashing for local newspapers and get off the national airwaves. It would be the same if the main columnist for the NHL (had to get that in there, all glory to my national pastime) was from Denver and a huge Avs fan and constantly berated the Red Wings all the time. I would get totally sick and tired of it and ask Vladimir Konstantinov to go over there and beat the living crap out of him.
Who is this person that speaks to me as though I needed his advice?
That's what King Edward I (Longshanks) says to his son's gay lover before tossing him out of an open window and that's what I say to this "Ku" person.
Ku, you have no idea what you're talking about. Go back to reading Updike, combing your pubic hair or doing whatever other ridiculous things people do in New England.
Since I don't want to hear any more poems from you, I'll let it rest.
Post a Comment